Jack Thursday – The Honest Truth about Business Ownership (LA 1696)
Jack Thursday – The Honest Truth about Business Ownership (LA 1696)
Transcript:
Steven Jack Butala:
Steve and Jill here.
Jill K DeWit:
Hi.
Steven Jack Butala:
Welcome to the Land Academy Show, entertaining land investment talk. I’m Steven Jack Butala.
Jill K DeWit:
And I’m Jill DeWit, broadcasting from the Valley of the Sun.
Steven Jack Butala:
Today’s Jack Thursday. I’m going to talk about the honest truth about business ownership.
Jill K DeWit:
How honest you going to be?
Steven Jack Butala:
Brutally honest. It’s brutal honesty week.
Jill K DeWit:
Oh. Maybe we should call the brutal honest truth.
Steven Jack Butala:
I should have. I don’t know about putting brutal in a title though.
Jill K DeWit:
That’s true. I don’t know someone might be searching for that. I’m sure.
Steven Jack Butala:
I’m sure. I’m sure there are people searching for all kinds of stuff.
Jill K DeWit:
Tell me the good, bad and the ugly. I need to know. Well, that’s why we’re here. Again we’re here to save you. Boy, do I wish I had us.
Steven Jack Butala:
Here’s a prelude. Probably 80% of owning a business sucks. The 20% that’s awesome.
Jill K DeWit:
Yeah.
Steven Jack Butala:
Like getting rich?
Jill K DeWit:
It outweighs that.
Steven Jack Butala:
Is worth it. And the 80% that’s awful? You can outsource,
Jill K DeWit:
You know what though? You’re talking about the 20%, the good part. I love. I’ll never go back.
Steven Jack Butala:
Oh gosh. There’s no way.
Jill K DeWit:
And I knew that. I knew that right away. I’m like, oh man. I knew that I was destined to do something like this with you. I knew.
Steven Jack Butala:
I know you did.
Jill K DeWit:
Every day, I got up and, yes, back in the day, I’m telling you how old I am because I actually had to punch a time clock. I really had to take a card off a wall back in the day and clock in and then clock out. I just knew that this is stupid. I shouldn’t be doing this. I’m not this person. And I’m very happy where we are. I know we’ll talk more about that.
Steven Jack Butala:
Me too, Jill. Before we get into it, let’s take a question posted by one of our members on the landinvestors.com online community that’s free. Please don’t forget to subscribe. Seriously. Don’t forget to subscribe on the Land Academy YouTube channel and comment on the shows you like.
Jill K DeWit:
Carl and Samantha, hello, wrote, “When looking at the red, yellow, green test, I was comparing the last three months, month over month, to establish a baseline and understand if the area was showing a downward or an upward trend.” Love this. “I know every market is different. So looking at one month wasn’t giving me enough of a story to make a decision.” Brilliant.
Steven Jack Butala:
This is a slice of brilliance, Jill’s right. In the red, green, yellow test we provide what I think is an infrastructure to test a zip code about whether or not you should send mail there and whether or not it’s going to work for buy for 30 and sell for 60, but it’s a basic concept. The question that they’re asking, and these people are in Career Path right now, what they’re really asking is, “Doesn’t it make sense to look at some more stuff just to make sure?” And the answer is, “Hell yes. Absolutely, it does.” Whatever makes sense to you beyond that structure. That’s what Career Path is. It’s taken this to the way next level and making it your own.
Steven Jack Butala:
And so month over month statistics or year over year statistics, what they’re talking about specifically is are there more properties selling this month versus last month? Or less properties or there more properties selling this year over last year? Year over year, month over month, it’s in every statistic in all kinds of real estate. So if there are more properties selling, and there are not more properties listed, this is the kind of stuff we talk about in Career Path and in Land Academy itself all the time, that’s a good place to send mail, especially if you line it up against a market that’s adjacent to it and that’s not happening there. Zip code by zip code by zip code in every market.
Jill K DeWit:
You know what the best thing I think about the red, yellow, green test is you think you know, and you don’t know until you’re like, “Oh, this county, I’m sure it’s all great. I got it all figured out.” And then you dig in a little deeper and you line up all the zip codes and you where the areas or the pockets that you thought you knew, you might not know. You’re like, “Oh, ooh. When I compare them all, all this one’s actually better over here.”
Steven Jack Butala:
Taking that my framework and adding your own twist on it, also, and this is super important is going to start you down the path for more accurate pricing.
Jill K DeWit:
Yep.
Steven Jack Butala:
If there’s more stuff happening in a better, good way in that market and you’re out in your expanded test, you’re in yellow test, you’re probably going to offer a little bit more, because it’s going to sell faster.
Steven Jack Butala:
Today’s Jack Thursday, the honest truth about business ownership. This is why you’re listening.
Steven Jack Butala:
There’s two types of business ownership that are going out there. There’s the business of starting the business up. There’s the business of operating the business once it’s started. And then there’s this whole business of being an eccentric weirdo owner. That’s my job.
Jill K DeWit:
I was going to say, what?
Steven Jack Butala:
I am fantastic.
Jill K DeWit:
At number three.
Steven Jack Butala:
This is a football situation, again. It’s a bell curve. I am very, very good at the startup part.
Jill K DeWit:
Yeah.
Steven Jack Butala:
And very, very good at the idiot weirdo end part.
Jill K DeWit:
Yep. That’s all true.
Steven Jack Butala:
Operations, not so much. And so when I say, and operations are imperative.
Jill K DeWit:
Yep.
Steven Jack Butala:
All kinds of stuff goes on in every day in our business. We have what, probably nine companies right now, and one is buying and selling land.
Jill K DeWit:
Right.
Steven Jack Butala:
There’s crazy stuff that goes on. We’ve also owned these companies for a long time. So I’ve owned the land company since the ’90s so I know what goes on in the land companies. And Jill and I separate them, we’re not co-CEOs of anything. I run Land Academy and Offers to Owners and all of the education type companies and all of the SAS business websites we have like Neighbors Group and all that. And Jill very successfully runs the land companies and that’s it. And what she says goes, and what I say goes on the other stuff. We tried it the other way.
Jill K DeWit:
Oh, it was a disaster.
Steven Jack Butala:
We don’t need to make decisions together.
Jill K DeWit:
Nope.
Steven Jack Butala:
But the brutal truth is this, when you start a company and it’s a good idea, and first of all, you can’t start a company or buy a company that you’re not interested in. Some people love manufacturing. I don’t. Some people love retail. Not me. I love internet companies. I love subscription type, value added memberships where we can all grow together. I love education and I love land. And so I’m here to tell you all the companies that we own, I like it. I like what we do.
Jill K DeWit:
Me too.
Steven Jack Butala:
Some more than others. I would not want to work in any of those companies. I love starting them. I love developing the relationships. I love the marketing on the front end and talking to some of the initial customers. But every single one of those companies has a head, a person that’s running it. And we never talk.
Jill K DeWit:
And it’s not use.
Steven Jack Butala:
And that’s not us at all. And we never, ever, ever talk. Maybe once a week just to say, “Hey, how you doing?” We look at the numbers. They might have some questions, but very, very rarely, once a month, if that. And so the brutal truth is, “Oh, great, Jack, what’s the problem then?” The problem is that I had every single one of those jobs and so did Jill because during the startup, you don’t know.
Jill K DeWit:
Yeah.
Steven Jack Butala:
You don’t know if it’s going to work. The vast majority of the companies that Jill and I have started or purchased failed, but we don’t talk about that. But that’s what this show’s about. That’s the truth of it. Did we lose a ton of money? Sometimes. Did we sit in the corner together with a bottle of Scotch and cry about it? Sometimes.
Jill K DeWit:
Sometimes.
Steven Jack Butala:
We don’t talk about that on the show enough.
Jill K DeWit:
My office floor. Sometimes
Steven Jack Butala:
Did we write checks to the IRS before we figured all that out in a puddle of hell?
Jill K DeWit:
Yeah.
Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah.
Jill K DeWit:
In the fetal position? Oh yeah. Been there.
Steven Jack Butala:
That’s a good problem to have actually. So there’s all the stuff surrounds operations of these companies and in a lot of cases, there’s startup hassles, there’s regulations that go on, and all kinds of rules, and how to capitalize property, capitalize companies. That’s all awful. But if you keep your eye on the prize, at the end, especially in this land business, it’s going to be great. You can be profitable in a land business, geez, if you really put your mind to it, in 60 to 90 days,
Jill K DeWit:
Is it my turn yet?
Steven Jack Butala:
Yes. Go ahead. It’s Jack Thursday, and yes.
Jill K DeWit:
I didn’t want to interrupt you, but I have three notes that I made I wanted to share here. Number one is know who you are. This is not for everyone. I was telling the story in the beginning, I knew that I was destined to do this, but some people are not. And that’s okay. And they’re your employees, by the way, you want the people who work for you that don’t want to steal your business and go off and do it. You want those loyal, hardworking people that just want a paycheck, are happy with whatever hours you need, and doing whatever tasks you assign them. There’s lots of people out there like that. But that’s not you if you’re listening to this and you’re building up your company or thinking about doing this. So it’s not for everyone. And that, like I said, so whichever way you go.
Jill K DeWit:
My point number two is put your helmet on.
Steven Jack Butala:
I like it.
Jill K DeWit:
Like that? Because as a business owner, you are not going to please everyone. And I mean, from staff to customers to the government to your office space, landlord, bring it. There’s a lot. And you are going to have to power through all that muck.
Steven Jack Butala:
That’s absolutely right. Power through all kinds of terrible stuff, especially in the beginning until you to get somebody to do it for you.
Jill K DeWit:
Right. But it’s you right now, it’s your business. You’re going to have to oversee this and make it happen.
Jill K DeWit:
And then my number three is just stay the course. You have all these hurdles and obstacles and things thrown at you, your credit card processor is holding your money, who knows, because you don’t have a relationship established yet.
Steven Jack Butala:
Great example.
Jill K DeWit:
And you need that money. There’s just random things are going to come at you and you’re going to want to go, “Forget it, I I’m out. I’m out, I’m out.” But you got to stay the course.
Steven Jack Butala:
Excellent Jill.
Jill K DeWit:
You got to give you some time. You really got to get through there. If you can hang in there. And it’s true, those, whatever those statistics are, after a year you got this, two years you got this, five years you got this. I believe all those philosophies. So you can’t give up on it too soon. You’re just going to have to stay the course and you’ll get there. If it’s meant to be, you’re going to get there.
Steven Jack Butala:
So here’s the good news. The land business we’ve worked it all out. Land Academy has worked all those details out, how and why and what works and what doesn’t work, and here’s a massive group of people that are at your fingertips in Discord to say, “Ah, no, you shouldn’t actually close this deal this way. You should close it this way.” Or, “No, you shouldn’t do this deal.”
Jill K DeWit:
Right.
Steven Jack Butala:
“I don’t think you should do this deal at all. You should probably seek some more people out and get a separate opinion or try to find a buyer,” and fill in the blank. So it’s very critical, these tiny little things can eat you alive if you don’t stay organized and motivated. And that’s what Discord I Land Academy is for is to say, “I’m having a terrible day.” This happens in Discord all the time.
Jill K DeWit:
Right.
Steven Jack Butala:
“I’m having a terrible day. I just sold a deal and I lost money on it. “That doesn’t happen too often, but, “Where did I go wrong in this last mailer? I’m not getting the yield that I want.” And so that’s what this is all about. It’s about making a decision and making a commitment and accepting the fact that it’s going to take some time.
Jill K DeWit:
Do you know what’s so nice about this?
Steven Jack Butala:
But the outcome can be magical.
Jill K DeWit:
My last point is, and this is, boy, oh, too bad there’s no convenience store online community. Can you imagine if there was?
Steven Jack Butala:
I bet there is.
Jill K DeWit:
What if you wanted? You think so?
Steven Jack Butala:
Sure.
Jill K DeWit:
Where owners can talk to each other?
Steven Jack Butala:
Sure.
Jill K DeWit:
Do you think they really share that stuff? I hope they do.
Steven Jack Butala:
I don’t know.
Jill K DeWit:
But the good news is we definitely have it and here we are. And to help you and guide you and give you advice and tips and share our experience, because we want you to succeed. You know what? It’s really about you and your level of motivation and your level of determination. It’s motivation and determination. That’s it. You’re motivated to wake up every day and go, “Here we go again. I don’t know what’s coming at me,” but you’re determined to make it work. And then you will.
Steven Jack Butala:
We’ve got a person in a Career Path right now. And we’re between module three and four. So three is set your mailer up and four is price it and get it in the mail. And so we’re at three and he’s got a lot of questions. And I said, “Look, why don’t you just wait until next week, I’ll explain it all, and then you can get your mailer out that Wednesday or Thursday?” He said, “Nope, I’m not waiting that long. I would rather make the huge mistake right now and do it faster, send out 5,000 units, make some mistakes, figure it out that way. And then maybe next week I’ll do it again a different way.” That person-
Jill K DeWit:
And that’s okay.
Steven Jack Butala:
-is going to be amazingly successful. He already is, actually in some other companies that he has.
Jill K DeWit:
Right.
Steven Jack Butala:
And you have to be aggressive and you just have to, like Jill said, power through this whole thing. There’s tons and tons and tons of little things that’ll eat away at you if you let it, like payroll and cash flow. By the way, Land Academy solves all cash issues. There are people in the group that’ll fund any deal.
Jill K DeWit:
Oh yeah, yeah.
Steven Jack Butala:
If it’s a good deal.
Jill K DeWit:
Exactly. Happy you could join us today. Five days a week, you can find us here on the Land Academy Show.
Steven Jack Butala:
Tomorrow’s Jill Friday. And she’s going to talk about shortcuts. You are not a alone in your real estate ambition. What’s about shortcuts?
Jill K DeWit:
I can’t wait for you to fill me in. So I clearly had a brain dump.
Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah, you did. It was pretty intense.
Jill K DeWit:
Yeah. I had a brain dump on-
Steven Jack Butala:
Well, it went like this-
Jill K DeWit:
-topic ideas.
Steven Jack Butala:
Why are these people, why did they think it’s okay, to take a shortcut?
Jill K DeWit:
Okay. Now I remember. I will fill you in tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in. We hope you find our content valuable and we appreciate your support. If you haven’t already, one way you can support us is getting on YouTube and hitting the subscribe button on our Land Academy YouTube channel. We are Steve and Jill-
Steven Jack Butala:
Steve and Jill. Information-
Jill K DeWit:
-and inspiration-
Steven Jack Butala:
To buy undervalued property.
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